Pondering the Beginner Pete Plan

[winniewinser]

Week 10 on the SkiErg completed. Before today's session, I realized the DF has been down where I had it back when I injured myself months ago. I went from a DF = 57 (prior sessions) to DF = 125 today. If I had to compare to the rower, it would be like going from 100 to 140. 125 DF wasn't bad for today b/c it was 7x500m 2r. I think I'll go for a DF around 90-95 for the 10k on BPP 11.1

I was a bit frustrated when I realized the DF was so low, but I think it was actually a blessing for my form being that I'm new on the ski.

Do you tend to have the Skierg set lower than the Rower for DF? I find about 80 is good for the Skierg and around 118 on the Rower. Different muscle groups.

[RayOfSunshine]

Week 10 on the SkiErg completed. Before today's session, I realized the DF has been down where I had it back when I injured myself months ago. I went from a DF = 57 (prior sessions) to DF = 125 today. If I had to compare to the rower, it would be like going from 100 to 140. 125 DF wasn't bad for today b/c it was 7x500m 2r. I think I'll go for a DF around 90-95 for the 10k on BPP 11.1

I was a bit frustrated when I realized the DF was so low, but I think it was actually a blessing for my form being that I'm new on the ski.

Do you tend to have the Skierg set lower than the Rower for DF? I find about 80 is good for the Skierg and around 118 on the Rower. Different muscle groups.

Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely lower on the skierg. I use between 110-120 on the rower. The last 6 months or so it's been at 112. I'm doing primarily longer SS rows. Even on my sprints I'm below 130.

I'm just now starting to dial in on skierg. If I had to guess, I'll end up around 80 too.

[winniewinser]

Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely lower on the skierg. I use between 110-120 on the rower. The last 6 months or so it's been at 112. I'm doing primarily longer SS rows. Even on my sprints I'm below 130.

I'm just now starting to dial in on skierg. If I had to guess, I'll end up around 80 too.

How you finding the BPP for Skierg training? Any difference from using it for Rowing? Maybe I'll rattle through it with the Skierg too

[RayOfSunshine]

Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely lower on the skierg. I use between 110-120 on the rower. The last 6 months or so it's been at 112. I'm doing primarily longer SS rows. Even on my sprints I'm below 130.

I'm just now starting to dial in on skierg. If I had to guess, I'll end up around 80 too.

How you finding the BPP for Skierg training? Any difference from using it for Rowing? Maybe I'll rattle through it with the Skierg too

I'm really enjoying it b/c I needed some motivation. I would always go to ski and end up on the rower because it's what I know. I use the plan the same way. I'm probably pushing myself a little harder than I did on the rower, but that's because I'm familiar with the plan.

[istro]

I'm in week 4 of the BPP right now.

Everything is working fine, but I still don't really know if I pace the sessions right. SS works around 2:09 pace and average watts 160. I always row with a rather low spm 18-20, heart rate around 160. It feels challenging but doable and I'm not completely exhausted at the end although I see the heart rate rising towards the end.

Intervals of course faster but even there I keep a relatively low spm, I guess not exceeding 24 spm. If I go faster, technique feels too bad and I find it hard to keep my position on the seat.

And I'm starting to bother about the boredom in my SS sessions, although the distances are still quite short. But when I think about rowing 12k later on, phew... That would be over 50 minutes of straight rowing. Do you really keep the same stroke rate / power etc. in these sessions or have you found a way to make these long rows a bit more interesting?

Welcome to the thread!

I too tend to have a similar spm on longer rows - around 20 or so.
Regarding heart rate - 160 seems a bit high for steady state, doesn't it? Do you have a heart rate monitor or are you estimating?

Our stats seem similar, so perhaps my experience will be somewhat informative (except our resting heart rate could differ quite a bit of course). When I got a heart rate monitor, I had it on at various times (including overnight once, lol) and figured out my resting heart rate is around 50-55bpm. Max heart rate formula 205.8 - (0.685 × age) gives around 180, and that seems to correspond with what I've seen my heart rate go up to in hard interval sessions. So my HRR (heart rate reserve) is 125(ish). So per concept2 training to heart rates page, in my case the aim for aerobic training 118-149bpm (steady state target), for anaerobic threshold 155-162bpm (intervals target). I don't focus on heart rate on intervals, so it ends up getting closer to max in the last intervals . But in steady state I've been trying to aim for 140bpm, then sprinting the last 500m or last couple of minutes (or sometimes last minute haha).

As to boredom - yes, long sessions definitely get quite long. Really focusing on keeping an eye on the heart rate has kept me entertained, and I also do listen to some interview or audiobook during the long ones - so it goes by quickly enough.

Having resolved to see the BPP through to the very end, I have changed my mind and am bailing out at the halfway point with 12 weeks out of 24 completed. ...

Good luck to those still working away at it, I wish you success and pb's on demand!

I would challenge your "bailing out" phrasing - this sounds a bit like giving up, but in fact the skill of reprioritizing and pivoting to different goals is worth a lot in itself. Besides, working through 12 weeks of the plan means you've racked up nearly 350k km - this is more than many people ever achieve!

Staying on track skiing the BPP and ramping up additional meters on the rower. Today was BPP 10.3, 8k. So, I did an 8k wu on the rower keeping my HR below 139 (60% HRR). 16k total... so I ate a tremendous amount for dinner

Woah, that's quite a lot of work! Well deserved holiday dinner

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As to me, chugging away - yesterday finished week 14, so 50 workouts left in the plan, 29 days left in the year (including today).

[frenzen]

On week 16, I skipped last week due to motivational issues and was gonna do 6 rows this week to make it up for it.

Day 1:



Day 2:



Today on Day 2, I was struggling and felt like I haven't rowed in months and my goal was to keep 2:07 average pace same as I did 2000x3 a few weeks back but towards my 4th interval my wrist was hurting. This is a first for me while rowing, maybe my grip was too tight on my left hand and I suspect I was pulling a lot instead of using my legs. 5th interval went better but wrist started to hurt the last 500 meters but I did not want to stop.

[istro]

On week 16, I skipped last week due to motivational issues and was gonna do 6 rows this week to make it up for it.

Day 1:

[img]

Day 2:

[img]

Today on Day 2, I was struggling and felt like I haven't rowed in months and my goal was to keep 2:07 average pace same as I did 2000x3 a few weeks back but towards my 4th interval my wrist was hurting. This is a first for me while rowing, maybe my grip was too tight on my left hand and I suspect I was pulling a lot instead of using my legs. 5th interval went better but wrist started to hurt the last 500 meters but I did not want to stop.

Solid work, welcome back to it after a week off! Hope your wrist feels better.

Motivation can be hard, and as soon as I skip a day or two it seems like a week flashes by in a blink of an eye. Do you know what keeps you motivated? In my case it's numbers, I like seeing my total meters reach milestones, figure out my average per workout, my average meters per day this year, average workouts per week this year, silly other meaningless metrics - so to double down on that quirk of my brain, I set myself up a spreadsheet where I track everything and filling in the next workout is a reward of sorts for completing the next workout. If you find something that helps you keep going, maybe figure out a way to really amplify the gratification from a workout?

Also, next one up for you is BPP 16.3 - 30min steady; that will be easier than last one (intervals are always harder, eh) - and also easier than the last-last one (it was steady - but ended up nearly twice the time, 54min). So, knocking that one out will be a breeze, you got this! DOOO EEET!!!

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As to me, chugging away - today finished* week 15, so 45 workouts left in the plan, 24 days left in the year. Also a milestone for me - total logbook distance went over 500km!

*I messed up and looked at the wrong line item in BPP - did 30min steady state from week 16 instead of 8k of week 15 . They seem reasonably comparable though, so I'll just slot in an 8k in place of a 30min of week 16 and call it even

[frenzen]

Solid work, welcome back to it after a week off! Hope your wrist feels better.

Motivation can be hard, and as soon as I skip a day or two it seems like a week flashes by in a blink of an eye. Do you know what keeps you motivated? In my case it's numbers, I like seeing my total meters reach milestones, figure out my average per workout, my average meters per day this year, average workouts per week this year, silly other meaningless metrics - so to double down on that quirk of my brain, I set myself up a spreadsheet where I track everything and filling in the next workout is a reward of sorts for completing the next workout. If you find something that helps you keep going, maybe figure out a way to really amplify the gratification from a workout?

Also, next one up for you is BPP 16.3 - 30min steady; that will be easier than last one (intervals are always harder, eh) - and also easier than the last-last one (it was steady - but ended up nearly twice the time, 54min). So, knocking that one out will be a breeze, you got this! DOOO EEET!!!

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As to me, chugging away - today finished* week 15, so 45 workouts left in the plan, 24 days left in the year. Also a milestone for me - total logbook distance went over 500km!

*I messed up and looked at the wrong line item in BPP - did 30min steady state from week 16 instead of 8k of week 15 . They seem reasonably comparable though, so I'll just slot in an 8k in place of a 30min of week 16 and call it even

Wrist pain is gone and good job, I see that you almost row everyday lol. My motivation is just to be able to complete the entire program. Finished Week 16 and 17!

I have never rowed more than 4 times in a week. Rowing 6 days wasn't so bad but I did cut down on my other exercises tho!

[istro]

Wrist pain is gone and good job, I see that you almost row everyday lol. My motivation is just to be able to complete the entire program. Finished Week 16 and 17!

I have never rowed more than 4 times in a week. Rowing 6 days wasn't so bad but I did cut down on my other exercises tho!

Nice work completing week 17! I'm just behind you, just finished week 16, haha .

And yes, have been rowing every day for about 7.5 weeks now. But rowing is the only exercise I do, so there's that. Having a goal like "complete the program" is good motivation, but progress can be harder to track and there might not be as much of a sense of success every time you complete a workout. So setting intermediary goals might help! Kind of like when starting a 10k row just looking at the total remaining is demotivating, while looking at splits or other data makes time pass quicker

In my case, goals similar to yours are helpful - completing the workout plan for sure, but that's not too distant for both of us. Additional goals are nice, too - for now I'm really trying to push myself to get to an annual average of 2x week (11 workouts to go!). Also if I continue until the end of the year (just 19 days left!) I'll match my highest ever annual workout count, which would be pretty sweet too. Keeping track of number of workouts per year, total meters, total calories, average per day meters can give a rewarding feeling on the daily basis (e.g. today i finished week 16, got over 35k Cal total ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ; tomorrow these metrics will be mundane - but other metrics will be sweet, I'll get over 550k total meters and 55 days of rowing in a row). If you ever find your goal-oriented motivation starting to slip, I encourage you to add some "split time" goals or achievements (for example - you just did 6 rows in a week! That's pretty cool).

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As to me with a status report - today finished week 16, so 40 workouts left in the plan, 19 days left in the year. While early on I found long sessions to be dreadful, now I'm finding them time-consuming but not so daunting, just keeping the heart rate steady seems totally sustainable. I might aim for a half-marathon after I complete BPP, and if all goes well - who knows, maybe even a full marathon sometime later in 2023?

[istro]

Also @frenzen to geek out on numbers for a moment - comparing your 10.5k from week 16 and 17, looks like you dropped 8.6 sec while at the same time reducing the average heart rate by 2bpm! That's the kind of stuff I mean as intermediate "wins", that would get me feel accomplished

[RayOfSunshine]

Wrist pain is gone and good job, I see that you almost row everyday lol. My motivation is just to be able to complete the entire program. Finished Week 16 and 17!

I have never rowed more than 4 times in a week. Rowing 6 days wasn't so bad but I did cut down on my other exercises tho!

Nice work completing week 17! I'm just behind you, just finished week 16, haha .

Great job @istro and @frenzen

I finished week 11 on the Skierg. Some nice gains due to improved form and more appropriate DF.

The longer SS on the ski are pretty dreadful b/c the head is moving and I can't really focus on the PM5 or TV.

[istro]

The longer SS on the ski are pretty dreadful b/c the head is moving and I can't really focus on the PM5 or TV.

Well done! That does seem rough, seems like a lot more work to be honest. Is listening to podcasts / audiobooks an option? This helps me pass the time on longer ones where effort is moderate (though my eyes are still glued to PM5 for fine tuning the effort to keep the heart rate near target lol).

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As to me, chugging along - another 5 days have gone by, another week of BPP behind me - week 17 done. 35 workouts left in the plan; 14 days left in the year.

Since long steady states aren't as scary as they used to be, I'm seriously considering a half marathon attempt shortly after I'm done with first round of BPP. With that in mind I decided to start adding 500m to each time there's a 10k+ sessions in the plan, so for 17.1 I did 11k instead of suggested 10.5k, and tomorrow plan to do 11.5k instead of suggested 11.

Come on everyone, let's finish the year strong, just 2 weeks to go! You got this!

[RayOfSunshine]

The longer SS on the ski are pretty dreadful b/c the head is moving and I can't really focus on the PM5 or TV.

Well done! That does seem rough, seems like a lot more work to be honest. Is listening to podcasts / audiobooks an option?

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I'm seriously considering a half marathon attempt shortly after I'm done with first round of BPP.

I do have music on while on ski or rower. I just like to have the weather channel or soccer on in the background.

As far as the HM, that will be no problem based on how you're doing. I just did one recently. I do a lot of HR capped (60% HRR) hour rows. They are typically about 12k. I decided to do a 16k one week just to see how it would go. It wasn't bad at all, so I did a HM the next week. It was slow, but the goal was to finish.

Next time (probably on Christmas day), I'll use this to come up with my target.
https://www.machars.net/ultimate.php

[EastClintwood]

Week 6, Session 3. I extended the distance to ~8.000 meters as it felt quite good.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
35:36.9	8,018m	2:13.2	148	809	18	156
5:00.0	1,123m	2:13.5	147	805	18	138
5:00.0	1,128m	2:12.9	149	812	19	151
5:00.0	1,129m	2:12.8	149	813	19	155
5:00.0	1,129m	2:12.8	149	813	19	158
5:00.0	1,123m	2:13.5	147	805	19	160
5:00.0	1,126m	2:13.2	148	809	19	162
5:00.0	1,126m	2:13.2	148	809	19	164
0:36.9	133m	2:18.7	131	751	17	166

Do you think my HR is too high during these SS sessions? I still find it hard to pace the sessions. My 2k best was at 1:57 pace and 218 watt. So I aimed for around 2k + 15 seconds. But my calculated AT begins somewhere in the high 150s and I passed it in the second half of my row. But this session felt quite easy and I could've hold it even longer.

[Sakly]

Week 6, Session 3. I extended the distance to ~8.000 meters as it felt quite good.

Code: Select all

Time	Meters	Pace	Watts	Cal/Hr	S/M	HR
35:36.9	8,018m	2:13.2	148	809	18	156
5:00.0	1,123m	2:13.5	147	805	18	138
5:00.0	1,128m	2:12.9	149	812	19	151
5:00.0	1,129m	2:12.8	149	813	19	155
5:00.0	1,129m	2:12.8	149	813	19	158
5:00.0	1,123m	2:13.5	147	805	19	160
5:00.0	1,126m	2:13.2	148	809	19	162
5:00.0	1,126m	2:13.2	148	809	19	164
0:36.9	133m	2:18.7	131	751	17	166

Do you think my HR is too high during these SS sessions? I still find it hard to pace the sessions. My 2k best was at 1:57 pace and 218 watt. So I aimed for around 2k + 15 seconds. But my calculated AT begins somewhere in the high 150s and I passed it in the second half of my row. But this session felt quite easy and I could've hold it even longer.

It is all based on your real HR max, but obviously your HR was shooting to high for a "real" steady state.
Typically 2k+25 is near to what can be used for steady state.